REVISED DRAFT EXPERIENCES WITH INTER BASIN WATER TRANSFERS FOR IRRIGATION, DRAINAGE AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT ICID TASK FORCE ON INTER BASIN WATER TRANSFERS Edited by Jancy Vijayan and Bart Schultz August 2007 International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) 48 Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri New Delhi 110 021 INDIA Tel: (91-11) 26116837; 26115679; 24679532; Fax: (91-11) 26115962 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.icid.org 1 Foreword FOREWORD Inter Basin Water Transfers (IBWT) are in operation at a quite substantial scale, especially in several developed and emerging countries. In these countries and to a certain extent in some least developed countries there is a substantial interest to develop new IBWTs. IBWTs are being applied or developed not only for irrigated agriculture and hydropower, but also for municipal and industrial water supply, flood management, flow augmentation (increasing flow within a certain river reach or canal for a certain purpose), and in a few cases for navigation, mining, recreation, drainage, wildlife, pollution control, log transport, or estuary improvement. Debates on the pros and cons of such transfers are on going at National and International level. New ideas and concepts on the viabilities and constraints of IBWTs are being presented and deliberated in various fora. In light of this the Central Office of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) has attempted a compilation covering the existing and proposed IBWT schemes all over the world, to the extent of data availability. The first version of the compilation was presented on the occasion of the 54th International Executive Council Meeting of ICID in Montpellier, France, 14 - 19 September 2003. Then a decision was taken to establish a Task Force on Inter Basin Water Transfers for Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Management. Acoordingly, the Task Force on Inter Basin Water Transfers (TF-IBWT) was constituted. The TF-IBWT would have to review the draft document, to collect and analyse additional data and information and to prepare an ICID publication in consultation with the National Committees of ICID. The specific Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Task Force were to: • collect the relevant information on existing and proposed inter basin water transfers for irrigation, drainage and flood management; • compile the collected information and circulate to National Committees for comments; • analyse the crucial issues of such transfers and recommend good practices to deal with such issues; • publish the material as an ICID reference document. The Task Force had its first meeting in Moscow, Russia on 8 September 2004, its second meeting in Beijing, China on 13 September 2005 and its third meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 12 September 2006. During the meetings of the Task Force several drafts of the document have been discussed and recommendations have been given for further modifications along with the inclusion of as much as possible additional information and analysis and recommendations on IBWT schemes, based on the experiences gathered and analysed. The present 6th draft has been prepared since the Kuala Lumpur meeting. The document has been brought at such a level that it may be considered as draft final, subject to final comments during the Task Force meeting in Sacramento, USA on 2 3 October 2007 and final check by the ICID National Committees, shortly after the meeting. The present composition of the Task Force was: • Members: (1) Prof. Bart Schultz, PhD, MSc, President Hon. ICID, Chairman (the Netherlands), (2) Dr. José A. Ortiz Fdz.- Urrutia (Spain), (3) Mr. Maurice Roos (USA), (4) Prof. dr. Takeshi Hata (Japan), (5) Prof. Zhu Ruixiang (China), (6) Dr. Frank Quinn (Canada), (7) Mr. Syed Jamait Ali Shah (Pakistan), (8) Mr. R.K. Sharma (India), (9) Mr. M. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary General, ICID, (10) Mrs. Jancy Vijayan, Joint Director, ICID Central Office (Coordinator); • Permanent Observers: (i) Dr. C.D. Thatte, Secretary General Hon., ICID (ICOLD representative) and (ii) Mr. Boubakari Mana (Lake Chad Basin Commission); (iii) Dr. Stephen Maxwell Donkor (UN Water/Africa Secretariat). The members of the Task Force hope that this document will improve the insight in the extent, plans and relevant aspects of IBWTs and that it may contribute to an improved decision-making on development, operation and management of existing and new IBWTs. 4 Contents CONTENTS FOREWORD CONTENTS SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. BACKGROUND 3. CONTINENT WISE OVERVIEW 4. COUNTRY WISE EXPERIENCES 4.1 Asia 4.1.1 Pakistan 4.1.2 India 4.1.3 China 4.1.4 Iraq 4.1.5 Japan 4.1.6 Iran 4.1.7 Republic of Korea 4.1.8 Malaysia 4.1.9 Central Asian States 4.1.10 Nepal 4.2 Americas 4.2.1 Canada 4.2.2 USA 4.2.3 Chile 4.2.4 Brazil 4.2.5 Bolivia 4.3 Europe 4.3.1 Russia 4.3.2 Romania 4.3.3 Slovakia 5 4.3.4 Turkey 4.3.5 France 4.3.6 Spain 4.3.7 Germany 4.3.8 Finland 4.3.9 Portugal 4.3.10 Czech Republic 4.3.11 Great Britain 4.4 Africa 4.4.1 South Africa 4.4.2 Morocco 4.4.3 Lybia 4.4.4 Lesotho 4.4.5 Sudan 4.4.6 Tanzania 4.4.7 Nigeria 4.4.8 Republic of Congo 4.5 Oceania 4.5.1 Australia 5. ANALYSIS 5.1 Experiences on inter basin water transfers primarily for irrigation, drainage, or flood management 5.1.1 General 5.1.2 Asia 5.1.3 Americas 5.1.4 Europe 5.1.5 Africa 5.1.6 Oceania 5.2 Potential for future inter basin water transfers primarily for irrigation, drainage, or flood management 5.2.1 General 5.2.2 Asia 5.2.3 Americas 5.2.4 Europe 5.2.5 Africa 5.2.6 Oceania Contents 5.3 Crucial issues for success, or inadequate functioning of inter basin water transfers primarily for irrigation, drainage, or flood management 5.3.1 General 5.3.2 Socio economic issues 5.3.3 Environmental issues 5.3.4 Design and construction issues 5.3.5 Operation and maintenance issues 5.3.6 Legal aspects 5.3.7 Sustainability 6. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GOOD PRACTICES 6.1 Relevant issues for decision-making 6.2 Development of shared vision 6.3 Overview of aspects to be studied 6.4 Required information at different stages of preparation 6.5 Broad-based partnerships 6.6 Expanding training and capacity building to include inter basin water transfer aspects 6.7 Enforcement of treaties 6.8 Operation and maintenance 6.9 Integrated approach REFERENCES ANNEXES 1 Abbreviations and acronyms 2 International experiences in existing and proposed Inter Basin Water Transfers (IBWT) 7 4. COUNTRY WISE EXPERIENCES In this Chapter a review will be given on the country wise experiences with Inter Basin Water Transfers (IBWT) with a focus on their application to irrigation, drainage and flood management. A distinction will be made in existing and proposed schemes. Within a certain country the schemes will be presented in the following order: • first the typical schemes for irrigation, drainage and/or flood management; • the multi purpose schemes with irrigation, drainage and/or flood management components; • the other schemes. The information is based on submissions by the ICID National Committees, the members and permanent observers of the Task Force, individual specialists and derived from literature. It is not pretended that the information gives a complete overview, but as complete as reasonably possible and to such an extent that general conclusions and recommendations can be formulated. 4.1 Asia Asia is the world’s largest and most populous Continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth’s total surface area and contains more than 60% of the world’s current human population. Asia, chiefly in the eastern and northern hemispheres, is defined as part of the landmass of Africa- Eurasia with the western portion of the latter occupied by Europe. It is bounded to the East by the Pacific Ocean, to the South by the Indian Ocean, and to the North by the Arctic Ocean. The Continent Asia occupies about 36% of the world’s water resources, which supports the 60% of the world’s population living in it. The global trends of availability in water resources versus growth in population put the Continent Asia under pressure. The disparity in spread of population especially in urban areas and availability of water with respect to time and space demands for a careful management of the water resources. The needs of societies and the environment make sustainable water resources planning and development followed by management and monitoring a complicated task. In Asia 80% of the runoff occurs between May and October. Although this runoff may be beneficial for certain economic activities, like fisheries and recession agriculture, may sustain ecosystems and wetland habitats, it may result as well in damage due to flooding of rural and urban areas. By way of storage, either in reservoirs, in aquifers, or by other means, on the one hand the risk 8 4. Country wise experiences of flooding will be reduces and on the other hand the water may be used for various purposes like: for irrigated agriculture, municipal and industrial water supply, as well as for various other uses. In light of these aspects, IBWTs can play their role as well. The main river basins in Asia are shown in Figure 4.1 and details of the basins are provided in Table 4.1. From the table it can be seen that some of the basins are shared by more than 5 countries. Hence inter basin cooperation between the riparian countries is of prime importance for sustainable development of the water resources.